In OZ ANNUAL: PATCHWORK GIRL, available from Zenescope Entertainment on June 30th, 2021, Dorothy and her friends must return to Earth after a dangerous criminal escapes from an Oz prison.
The Details
- Written By: Jenna Lyn Wright
- Art By: Alessio Mariani, Eman Casallos, Dario Tallarico
- Colors By: Jorge Cortes, Michael Bartolo, Maxflan Araujo
- Letters By: Taylor Esposito, Elizabeth Sharland
- Cover Art By: Igor Vitorino, Ivan Nunes
- Cover Price: $9.99
- Release Date: June 30, 2021
Was It Good?
Yes. Yes, it was good.
There are some oddities that may not be everyone’s taste, but this is a generally strong one-shot by the creative team.
The story takes Dorothy and friends on a cross-realm mission to take down a dangerous criminal, but there’s an added layer. Dorothy is feeling a significant amount of self-doubt as Queen of Oz, and the mission forces her to come to terms with her ability and acceptance of the choices others make. It’s a simple plot in terms of action but it contains a surprising amount of character growth.
The art is generally good, but as you can see from the credits, there’s a significant amount of art switching from one page to the next. To be fair, the art-switching is used well by segregating the differences in style to flashback scenes that enhance the visual punch of the story, but others may find the distinct style changes jarring.
You can see some of the style choices in our OZ ANNUAL: PATCHWORK GIRL preview.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
Heavy is the dead that wears the crown.
Dorothy is feeling the weight of making decisions and passing judgments over the people of Oz, but the weight comes mostly from her own self-doubt over whether or not she’s fit to rule. There’s a potential here to portray Dorothy as a pitiful whiner, but Wright does a sound job framing Dorothy’s feelings as introspective and in service of doing what’s best for the people of Oz.
Meanwhile, readers are introduced to the Patchwork Girl in Ojo prison somewhere in Oz. Patchwork Girl was Jenny Patch – a seamstress from Earth falsely accused of being a witch and condemned to drown in a lake by her townspeople. Before she drowned at the bottom of a lake, a portal opened up and sept her to Oz, transforming her into the Patchwork Girl.
Her powers allow her to turn people into ragdolls that she can control. The effect on her victims isn’t permanent if the connection between them can be weakened or severed with magic. Patchwork Girl uses her powers malicious to vent her rage for being falsely drowned as a witch.
While in prison, a mysterious tornado appears to level the building and sweep Patchwork Girl back to Earth.
Dorothy receives word of the incident from the Lion. She, the Lion, the Scarecrow, and Toto head to Earth to recapture her. So far, so good. All the familiar Oz tropes are present, except it is a little disappointing to not have some version of the Tin Man present throughout the issue.
Also, the art style difference is very apparent in this issue at this point. Particularly, the flashbacks to Patchwork Girl’s original lynching use heavy, rough inking to imply a dark time in the past. In the present day of Earth, the lines are cleaner and tighter, and the coloring is much brighter. It’s an odd contrast as you would expect the magical land of Oz to have a brighter and more colorful vibe but the artists went the opposite way in this book.
When Dorothy and friends arrive on Earth on the outskirts of town, they begin to find civilian after civilian turned into ragdolls. When they eventually catch up to Patchwork Girl, nearly the entire town has been converted and she uses the ragdoll people as a small army to attack Dorothy.
Dorothy runs after Scarecrow and Lion are captured and the Patchwork Girl robs her of her powers. She finds a nearby town to reflect on whether or not she has what it takes to lead. More importantly, she wonders if she is able to make the hard choices when faced with people who refuse to be helped.
Dorothy digs deep, grabs a pitchfork, and heads back to the town’s Main Street to confront the Patchwork Girl one more time. We conclude the issue with a showdown between a Queen and a Puppetmaster.
How Does It End?
Magic is a two-way street. Armies can be redirected. Bugs are not so innocent.
Final Thoughts
OZ ANNUAL: PATCHWORK GIRL takes a simple story about capturing a dangerous escaped criminal and turns it into a character study about finding the courage to make hard choices. The art varies wildly, but the editors make it work for the story.
Score: 7.5/10
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